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Friday, March 02, 2012

Disasters at home, imagined and real

Tomorrow I'm doing a class for our women's group on preparing for natural disasters specific to Ohio. It's quite fortuitous, really, since I was wondering which natural disasters I could expect just a week or so after moving here and then got the invite to do this presentation just a week or so later. I laughed when I got the call, since I'm so new here. I wonder how that conversation went: "What about that new girl? She...umm...looks like she can talk about stuff...?" Regardless, it has been fun to look everything up and make my signature low artistic ability visual aids (thank you, WordArt and pretty paper!) and far too comprehensive handouts.

Salient piece of information number one (info that will NOT make it into the class)? All my long and intense preparations for hurricanes are pretty much moot now. Darn it!

Salient piece of information number two? Preparing for blizzards is complicated and preparing for tornadoes feels like a timely exercise in futility, unless you happen to have a tornado/root cellar already built.

Salient piece of information number three? This is the first time I've taught a group of people I mainly don't know since I last taught at the College of Charleston. Strange!

Salient piece of information number four? The only idea out there for how to teach disaster preparedness via active learning is to have everyone assemble 72 hour kits really fast! Seriously? That's the best that has been done? Tsk, tsk, tsk, Internets.

So now, I'm off to finish gathering all my materials and get to sleep early, since Baby E has croup AGAIN, and I will almost certainly not be sleeping much tonight, Night 2, the worst night for croup symptoms, as I well know, this being bout number 3!! The new pediatrician noted that if he gets it a fourth time, he will need to be seen by an ENT doc to address what is most likely a physiological problem with his anatomy that makes him particularly susceptible. More surgery for Baby E? Ridiculous! As it is, we have to schedule his two year old allergy screening soon, which is tons of needle pricking fun. This child can't catch a break! And neither can I!